Area-based open pit mine designer

ABSTRACT

An area-based open pit mine designer is disclosed. One example includes an economic shell receiver module to receive an economic shell. In addition, a user input module receives a user parametric input denoting an open pit mine shape based on the economic shell. The open pit mine designer module automatically develops an open pit mine design based on the user parametric input.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED U.S. APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to and benefit of co-pending U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/616,868, Attorney DocketNumber TRMB-3030.PRO, entitled “MINE OPTIMIZATION,” by George DerrickDarby, Jr., with a filing date of Mar. 28, 2012, and assigned to theassignee of the present application.

This application is related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser.No. ______, Attorney Docket Number TRMB-3030, entitled “OPEN PIT MINEDESIGNER,” by Darby et al., with a filing date of TBD, and assigned tothe assignee of the present application.

This application is related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser.No. ______, Attorney Docket Number TRMB-3030-2, entitled “AUTOMATICCHANGE PROPAGATION IN AN AREA-BASED OPEN PIT MINE DESIGNER,” by Ferrieret al., with a filing date of TBD, and assigned to the assignee of thepresent application.

BACKGROUND

Open pit mines are one of a plurality of types of mines that can be usedto extract ore from the Earth. However, instead of using tunnels orother types of underground extraction processes, open pit mines remainopen to the environment. They may also be known as surface mines.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form a part ofthis application, illustrate and serve to explain the principles ofembodiments in conjunction with the description. Unless noted, thedrawings referred to this description should be understood as not beingdrawn to scale.

FIG. 1A is a diagram of an economic shell of an open pit mine accordingto one embodiment of the present technology.

FIG. 1B is a graphical representation of slope information according toone embodiment of the present technology.

FIG. 1C is a plan view for one elevation level of an open pit minedesign according to one embodiment of the present technology.

FIG. 1D is a diagram of a ramp construct for a given elevation accordingto one embodiment of the present technology.

FIG. 1E is a diagram of a convex turn according to one embodiment of thepresent technology.

FIG. 1F is a diagram of a concave turn according to one embodiment ofthe present technology.

FIG. 2 is diagram of a completed open pit mine design according to oneembodiment of the present technology.

FIG. 3 is an open pit mine designer according to one embodiment of thepresent technology.

FIG. 4A is a flowchart of a method for automatically generating an openpit mine design according to one embodiment of the present technology.

FIG. 4B is a flowchart of a method for automatically generating a wastestorage design according to one embodiment of the present technology.

FIG. 5 is an area-based open pit mine design shown in accordance withone embodiment of the present technology.

FIG. 6A is a flowchart of a method for an area-based designing of anopen pit mine shown in accordance with an embodiment of the presenttechnology.

FIG. 6B is a flowchart of a method for automatically developing a wastestorage design shown in accordance with one embodiment of the presenttechnology.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an example computer system upon whichembodiments of the present technology may be implemented.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT(S)

Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of thepresent technology, examples of which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings. While the present technology will be described inconjunction with these embodiments, it will be understood that they arenot intended to limit the present technology to these embodiments. Onthe contrary, the present technology is intended to cover alternatives,modifications and equivalents, which may be included within the spiritand scope of the present technology as defined by the appended claims.Furthermore, in the following description of the present technology,numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present technology. In other instances, well-knownmethods, procedures, components, and circuits have not been described indetail as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the presenttechnology.

Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the followingdiscussions, it is appreciated that throughout the present descriptionof embodiments, discussions utilizing terms such as “receiving”,“storing”, “generating”, “transmitting”, “inferring,” or the like, referto the actions and processes of a computer system, or similar electroniccomputing device. The computer system or similar electronic computingdevice manipulates and transforms data represented as physical(electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers andmemories into other data similarly represented as physical quantitieswithin the computer system memories or registers or other suchinformation storage, transmission, or display devices. Embodiments ofthe present technology are also well suited to the use of other computersystems such as, for example, mobile communication devices.

Overview

Embodiments of the present invention enable the automatic and efficientgeneration of an open pit mine design. In the following discussion, theautomated open pit mine design develops an open pit mine design thatutilizes a least amount of waste removal criterion while retrieving amajority of the ore delineated by the economic model. That is, the openpit mine designer provides a design that results in the least amount ofwaste needing to be removed while recovering approximately all of theore delineated by the economic model.

In other words, any moved earth is purely a cost factor to the mine.Therefore, by utilizing the open pit mine designer described herein toplan a mine that requires less earth/waste removal to obtain the sameamount of ore, the mine will make the same amount of money, e.g.,acquired ore, while reducing the ancillary costs of waste removal, andenforcing the engineering constraints to ensure sufficient structuralintegrity of the bench walls and allowing efficient routes forearthmoving equipment.

With reference now to FIG. 1A, a diagram 100 of an economic shell 108 ofan open pit mine is shown in accordance with one embodiment. Forpurposes of the present discussion, the economic shell 108 provides aperfect world open pit mine design. In other words, the economic shell108 only notes the type of ore deposits 109 a, 109 b, the ore depositlocations and a standardized slope for achieving the open pit design.Thus, the economic shell 108 illustrates what an open pit mine wouldlook like if the ore and waste was removed without concern of how theactual ore and waste removal occurred. For example, the economic shellusually does not include haul roads, engineering criteria, geologicalinformation used to determine the actual slope, or the like.

Referring now to FIG. 1B, a graphical representation of slopeinformation 150 is shown in accordance with an embodiment. In general,the slope information 150 includes bench height 155, berm width 157,ramp width 158 and slope angle 159.

With reference now to FIG. 1C, a plan view for one elevation level of anopen pit mine plan 175 is shown in accordance with one embodiment.Elevation cross-section mine plan 175 includes economic shell 108,actual pit perimeter 165, a portion of a waste haul road 170 and aportion of an ore haul road 173.

In general, the elevation level refers to a cross-section for the openpit mine design at a given elevation. For example, if the open pit mineeconomic shell 108 includes an elevation range of 300 meters, that is,the bottom of the mine is 300 meters below the top of the mine, thecross-section 175 would include only a specific elevation, e.g., 150meters. For example, in one embodiment if bench height 155 is 15 metersthere may be 20 cross-sections 175 for an open pit mine design having adesired depth of 300 meters. In another embodiment, the number ofcross-sections for the mine design may be based on other metrics such asthose discussed herein.

With reference now to FIG. 1D, a ramp construct 185 for a portion ofroad 190 for a given elevation is shown according to one embodiment.That is, in conjunction with the cross section for each section of themine pit as shown in FIG. 1C, a ramp construct 185 is determinedAlthough only one ramp construct 185 is shown, in one embodiment,multiple ramp constructs 185 may be utilized for each cross-section ofelevation to support independent transportation of material, forexample, ore haul roads and waste hauling roads. In one embodiment thelength 188 of the ramp construct road 190 is determined by the height155 of the cross-section in conjunction with the determined road gradeslope.

For example, if the bench height 155 is 15 meters and the road grade isdetermined to be 10%, then the length 188 for the ramp construct portion185 would be 150 meters. In one embodiment, ramp construct 185 mayadditionally utilize information, such as but not limited to, a stackheight, e.g., a number of benches 192, a stack slope: based on materialfailure; a step out width and a switchback haul road-to reach a locationwithout going around the pit.

With reference now to both FIGS. 1C and 1D, in one embodiment, thelocation of ramp construct 185 (e.g., haul roads 170 and 173) for eachlevel are picked at the elevation chosen in a prior level and are slopedin an appropriate direction based on whether the road 190 is moving upor down. For example, the haul road boxes 170 and 173 shown in furtherdetail in ramp construct 185 are moved up in the direction of thesurface and go to the crest string. A surface elevation tie in is usedto ensure that each of the prior ramp construct 185 surfaces smoothlymeet the next levels ramp construct 185 surfaces in the correctdirection and location.

With reference now to FIG. 1E, an embodiment of a convex turn 195 isshown. In FIG. 1F, an embodiment of a concave turn 197 is shown. Ingeneral, the turns 195 and 197 illustrate two embodiments of turns beingimplemented between two of the layers shown in FIGS. 1C and 1D.

With reference now to FIG. 2, one version of a completed open pit minedesign 200 is shown. Open pit mine design 200 includes the pit design165, ore haul road 175 and waste haul road 170 ramp constructs 185 forevery layer overlaid on the economic shell 108. In one embodiment, acolor code may be utilized to show positive and negative areas withinthe open pit mine design 200 and to provide recommendations about openpit mine design modifications. In addition, color may be used in a perore block basis to describe the type or types of minerals within an oreblock, an actual cost of removing the ore block, and the like.

With reference now to FIG. 3, an open pit mine designer 300 is shown inaccordance with an embodiment of the present technology. In oneembodiment, open pit mine designer 300 includes metric receiver module310, user input module 320 and open pit mine designer module 330.

As shown in FIG. 3, metric receiver module 310 receives input metricssuch as environmental information 302, economic shell information 108and engineering information 306. In general, environmental information302 includes geological information about material around the ore,information such as a mineral type of the ore, a quantity of the ore anda value of the ore, as well as waste dump locations, ore drop locationsand the like. Engineering information 306 may include vehicleavailability, truck parameters, truck geometry and vehicle capabilitycharacteristics and the like.

In one embodiment, metric receiver module 310 provides the receivedinformation to user input module 320. User input module 320 mayoptionally receive additional input from user modifiable information325. In general, user modifiable information 325 may include informationrelated to user adjustments such as ore retrieval ranking, miningtimeline information, vehicle availability, fuel availability, dumplocation changes, updated geological information and the like.

User input module 320 provides the information from metric receivermodule 310 and any user modifiable information 325 to open pit minedesigner module 330. In one embodiment, open pit mine designer module330 utilizes the input to develop an open pit mine design 200 withunderlying criteria to develop a design with the least amount of wastethat needs to be removed to obtain the ore delineated in the economicmodel.

Open Pit Mine Design

With reference now to FIG. 4A, a flowchart 400 of a method for designingan open pit mine is shown in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent technology. That is, by planning a mine that requires lessearth/waste removal to obtain the same amount of ore, the open pit minemakes the same amount of money, e.g., acquired ore, while reducing theancillary costs of waste removal.

Referring now to 402 of FIG. 4A and FIG. 1A, one embodiment receives aneconomic shell 108 for an open pit mine location, the economic shell 108including the locations of the ore to be obtained.

With reference now to 404 of FIG. 4A and FIG. 1B, one embodimentaccesses a geological data and mine machinery characteristic for theopen pit mine location. For example, the geological data may includesoil type, consistency, and the like. In addition, a mine machinerycharacteristic may include vehicle parameters such as, but not limitedto, width, length, empty weight, operating machine weight, maximumweight, capacity, front and rear weight distribution for empty andloaded conditions, tire size, net power, gross power, width of thetruck, maximum grade slope, turning radius, fuel consumption and thelike.

As described herein, the geological information in conjunction with thevehicle characteristics is utilized to determine the slope information150. In one embodiment, the slope information 150 may additionallyutilize one or more default characteristics or design specific criteria.For example, the haul road ramp width 158 may be determined by a defaultof approximately 3.5 times the width of the widest truck to allowpassing between ascending and descending vehicles. In anotherembodiment, such as close pits, the haul road ramp width 158 may use asingle width road default width. In one embodiment, the maximum gradeslope may be a 10% default. Although a number of defaults values areprovided herein, the default values are representative of one embodimentand may be adjusted in different implementations.

With reference now to 406 of FIG. 4A and FIGS. 2-3, one embodimentutilizes a minimum amount of waste to be removed metric in correlationwith a maximum amount of ore recovered metric in conjunction with theeconomic shell, the geological data and the mine machinerycharacteristic information to automatically generate an open pit minedesign.

In other words, one embodiment automatically generates the open pit minedesign based on the least amount of waste to be removed while obtaininga majority of the ore delineated by the economic model 108. For example,one degree of slope of road, over the life of the mine, may be worthmillions or billions of dollars in waste removal costs.

In general, open pit mine designer module 330 develops a number ofelevation cross section layers 175 such as shown in FIG. 1C and thenlinks each of the layers 175 to generate the open pit mine design 200.By developing the open pit mine design 200 as a number of specificlayers and then linking the layers, the open pit mine designer 300 iscapable of iterating the mine design multiple times and for a number ofadjustable metrics. In so doing, the mine design can be evaluated withrespect to a number of different adjustable metrics, re-evaluated andupdated across the life of the mine

For example, in one embodiment, open pit mine designer 300 may makerecommendations as to which vehicles may be used. For example, the openpit mine design 200 iteration can be performed for different trucks withdifferent geometries (weight restrictions, slope restrictions, etc.) toprovide a metric based evaluation for the best truck for the job therebyincurring further cost savings.

For example, by utilizing a smaller truck the resultant design wouldhave a narrower ramp width 158, lower weight restrictions, lower sloperestrictions, or the like which could reduce the amount of waste to beremoved. Conversely, utilizing larger trucks would require a wider rampwidth 158, higher weight restrictions and higher slope restrictionswhich may increase the waste to be removed, but the increase in wastemay be offset by the time savings generated by the increased loadcapabilities.

In another embodiment, the open pit mine design 200 may be revisitedthroughout the actual life of the mine as user modifiable information325 is provided. One example of user adjustable criteria is the order inwhich the ore should be retrieved in a mixed ore mine

For example, if a mine has a number of different ores, e.g., gold,platinum, and the like, the initial design may have been made without aninitial emphasis on which ore was the higher priority but instead on themost efficient way of removing the ore. In another embodiment, theinitial design may have been predicated on removing one ore in a moreexpedient fashion. For example, the gold may have been a primary focusdue to a high gold price point.

However, in a changing market environment, such as during the time ofthe mine planning and the extraction process, the market may begin toshow an exponential increase in the value of platinum while the goldprice may be rising linearly or even becoming stagnant. As such, itwould be in the extractor's best interest to adjust the mine plan tofocus on extracting the platinum.

Utilizing the tools described herein, one embodiment allows a mine planto be adjusted, or redesigned, by adjusting an existing metric or addinga new metric and then performing a mine plan redesign. For instance, inthe above example, the metric that is changed is the value of theextracted ore or the importance of the ore to be extracted. In otherwords, whereas the previous mine design either did not place an emphasison the extraction of one ore over another or focused on the extractionof the gold over the extraction of the platinum, the mine redesign willadjust a mine design metric to place a priority on the extraction ofplatinum.

In another example, the mine may be a mine that was planned according toa sampling of the platinum and gold materials in the mine Thus, a minewith a large gold ore potential and a smaller platinum ore potential isplanned with an emphasis on reaching one or more of the larger golddeposits first. However, once the gold ore is reached, for any number ofreasons, it may be realized that the gold ore is not as high of aquality as initially expected. As such, the mine owners may want tochange the emphasis from the gold ore to the platinum ore, thusrequiring a redesign of the mine plan.

By adjusting the metric of priority as to which ore should be extractedfirst, the mine plan would be redesigned. In addition, the redesignwould also include any changes that have been made to the area since theopen pit mining had begun. For example, initially reaching the gold oremay have included the construction of haul roads, a wastestorage/disposal location and a change in the topography of the minedlandscape. In one embodiment, each of these metrics is also adjusted,added to, or otherwise accounted for in the open pit design during thedevelopment of the redesigned plan. Therefore, when the emphasis changesfrom gold to platinum, the redesigned plan not only incorporates thechanges needed to access the ore, but the open pit mine designer 300also accounts for the existing haul roads, location of the wastestorage/disposal and other established metrics while updating the openpit mine design.

With reference now to FIG. 4B, a flowchart 450 of a method forautomatically developing a waste storage design is shown in accordancewith one embodiment of the present technology. That is, utilizing thesame basic functionality described herein, a waste storage design can beautomatically developed based on the amount of waste to be removed inthe mine design.

Referring now to 452 of FIG. 4B and FIG. 1A, one embodiment receives awaste material amount based on the open pit mine design. The wastematerial amount being a measure of the waste material that planned to beremoved during the design of the open pit mine

With reference now to 454 of FIG. 4B and FIG. 1B, one embodimentreceives geological data about the waste material as well as a storagelocation. For example, the waste geological data may include wastematerial type, consistency, and the like. In addition, storage locationinformation may include environmental parameters such as, but notlimited to: storage area fitment requirements such as length of wastepile, width of waste pile and height of waste pile; environmental impactinformation such as run-off areas, wildlife areas, off-limit areas;geographical information including hills, valleys and waterways; and thelike.

Similarly, vehicle characteristics that will be delivering the waste maybe used with waste geological information to determine the slopeinformation for the waste pile. In general, the waste storage design isan inverse of the mine design 150. Thus, the same characteristics thatwere utilized in developing the mine design are also used to develop thewaste storage design, e.g., bench height, berm width, slope angle, rampwidth and the like.

For example, the haul road ramp width 158 may be determined by a defaultof approximately 3.5 times the width of the widest truck to allowpassing between ascending and descending vehicles. In one embodiment,the maximum grade slope may be a 10% default. Although a number ofdefaults values are provided herein, the default values arerepresentative of one embodiment and may be adjusted in differentimplementations. Moreover, although all of the mine designcharacteristics are not repeated in the waste design description, any orall of the design characteristics that are applicable to the mine designmay be similarly utilized during the waste storage design.

With reference now to 456 of FIG. 4B and FIGS. 2-3, one embodimentutilizes the geological data and the waste amount to automaticallydevelop a waste storage design. For example, one embodimentautomatically generates the waste storage design based on the wasteinformation delineated by the open pit mine design. Thus, in oneembodiment both the open pit mine design and the waste storage designmay be generated and provided to the user at almost the same time.

Similarly, any modifications to the open pit mine design may beautomatically carried over to the waste storage design. For example, ifan increase in the size of the open pit mine design was contemplated,the user would be able to review the associated waste storage design.This information may be economically important if the adjustment to theopen pit mine design resulted in a need for a secondary waste storagelocation or an adjustment to the waste storage design that would requireadditional permissions, or the like.

Area-Based Mine Design

With reference now to FIG. 5, an area-based open pit mine design 500 isshown in accordance with one embodiment. In general, area-based open pitmine design refers to the user level interaction with the open pit minedesigner 300. For example, suppose a user wants to develop a mine designbased on diagram 100 of the economic shell 108 described in FIG. 1A. Byutilizing an area-based or parametric design method and system, insteadof providing a level by level line and point design, the user paints orotherwise indicates the open pit mine shape 508 over the economic shell108. The open pit mine designer 300 then automatically generates theopen pit mine design level by level and point to point based on theshape 508 indicated by the user.

With reference now to FIG. 6A, a flowchart 600 of a method for anarea-based designing of an open pit mine is shown in accordance with anembodiment. In one embodiment, the method can be performed on a computersystem such as computer system 700 described in further detail herein.

Referring now to 602 of FIG. 6A and FIG. 1A, one embodiment receives aneconomic shell 108 for an open pit mine location. As stated herein, theeconomic shell 108 provides a perfect world open pit mine design. Inother words, the economic shell 108 only notes the type of ore deposits109 a, 109 b, the ore deposit locations and a standardized slope forachieving the open pit design. Thus, the economic shell 108 illustrateswhat an open pit mine would look like if the ore and waste was removedwithout concern of how the actual ore and waste removal occurred. Forexample, the economic shell usually does not include haul roads,engineering criteria, geological information used to determine theactual slope, or the like.

With reference now to 604 of FIG. 6A and FIG. 5, one embodiment receivesuser parametric input denoting an open pit mine shape 508 based on theeconomic shell 108. For example, in one embodiment, a user paints shape508 on the surface of the economic shell 108. Although painting isdiscussed herein, shape 508 may be indicated in a number of differentmethods. For example, the user may draw the outline of shape 508 aroundthe economic shell 108.

In addition, although the shape 508 is discussed as being provided onthe surface of the economic shell 108, as discussed in more detailherein, shape 508 may be painted at different depths ranging from thesurface to the bottom or deepest layer of the economic shell 108.

Referring now to 606 of FIG. 6A and FIG. 1B, 1C, 1D and 1F, oneembodiment automatically generates an open pit mine design based on theparametric input in conjunction with user adjustable open pit minedesign metrics. In one embodiment, the user adjustable open pit minedesign metrics include metrics such as bench height, berm width, slopeangle, ramp width, stack height, stack slope, step out width, switchbackhaul road information and the like.

Additionally, user adjustable open pit mine design metrics may includemine machinery characteristic such as truck parameters, truck geometry,a slope restriction, a weight restriction, a turning radius, a width ofa haul road for a given vehicle and the like. User adjustable open pitmine design metrics may also include geological metrics such asavailable land, waste dump locations, ore drop locations, geologicalinformation for material around the ore, and the like which have beendiscussed previously. In one embodiment, the user adjustable open pitmine design metrics may be predefined or may be configured during themine design generation.

For example, if the user paints shape 508 on the surface, open pit minedesigner 300 will utilize the user painted area in conjunction with useradjustable open pit mine design metrics to generate an open pit minedesign 200. That is, in one embodiment, the open pit mine designer 300will take the shape 508 designated by the user in conjunction with minedesign parameters such as bench height, berm width, slope angle, rampwidth, stack height, stack slope, step out width, and switchback haulroad information to automatically generate the open pit mine design fromthe surface down. In another embodiment, if the user paints shape 508 atthe lowest point in the economic model, the open pit mine designer 300will take the shape 508 designated by the user in conjunction with minedesign parameters such as bench height, berm width, slope angle, rampwidth, stack height, stack slope, step out width, and switchback haulroad information to automatically generate the open pit mine design fromthe bottom up.

In yet another embodiment, if the user paints shape 508 at an elevationbetween the surface and the lowest point in the economic model, the openpit mine designer 300 will take the shape 508 designated by the user inconjunction with mine design parameters such as bench height, bermwidth, slope angle, ramp width, stack height, stack slope, step outwidth, and switchback haul road information to automatically generatethe open pit mine design down and up from the defined elevation.

In one embodiment, the haul roads, such as the waste haul road 170 andore haul road 173, and the associated haul road parameters may beautomatically defined during the initial design generation of the openpit mine design. In another embodiment, the initial open pit mine designmay be generated without haul roads and once a design is selected, thehaul roads and haul road parameters will be automatically added to theopen pit mine design.

In one embodiment, open pit mine designer 300 additionally includes acompliance requirement to ensure proper mine design characteristics. Forexample, in one embodiment painted shape 508 designates the lowest pointin the economic shell 108. A compliance requirement may includeinflating each layer above the lowest layer 508 until the desired topelevation is reached. In so doing, the compliance requirement willensure that the open pit mine design will have no overhangs or any otherviolations to the constraints established by the user-specifiedparameters in the design.

Thus, by utilizing the area-based design the complexity of the minedesign for the user is reduced since the user designate an elevation andshape of the desired open pit mine and then the open pit mine designer300 will automatically perform the detailed design process as shown anddescribed herein to generate the open pit mine design.

In addition to reducing user complexity, the open pit mine design can beevaluated against user defined design objective metrics such as aminimized amount of waste to be removed, a time frame for obtaining theore, a maximization of ore obtained, mine machinery requirements andavailability, and the like.

Moreover, because of the automatic generation of the open pit minedesign, in one embodiment a user can provide a number of differentshapes 508 to open pit mine designer 300 and receive a similar number ofdifferent open pit mine designs 200. The user can similarly compare andcontrast each of the open pit mine designs against the above stateddesign objective metrics to help select an appropriate open pit minedesign.

With reference now to FIG. 6B, a flowchart 650 of a method forautomatically developing a waste storage design is shown in accordancewith one embodiment of the present technology. That is, utilizing thesame basic functionality described herein, a waste storage design can beautomatically developed based on user parametric input.

Referring now to 652 of FIG. 6B and FIG. 2, one embodiment receives awaste material amount based on the open pit mine design. The wastematerial amount being a measure of the waste material that planned to beremoved during the design of the open pit mine

With reference now to 654 of FIG. 6B and FIG. 2, one embodiment receivesuser parametric input denoting a waste storage shape. For example, inone embodiment, a user paints a shape similar to 508 at the desiredwaste storage location. Although painting is discussed herein, the shapesimilar to 508 may be indicated in a number of different methods. Forexample, the user may draw the outline of shape 508 around the economicshell 108.

With reference now to 656 of FIG. 6B and FIGS. 2-3, one embodimentutilizes the parametric input and the waste material amount inconjunction with user adjustable waste storage design metrics toautomatically develop a waste storage design.

Examples of the user adjustable waste storage design metrics may includewaste material type, consistency, and the like. In addition, useradjustable waste storage design metrics may include environmentalparameters such as, but not limited to: storage area fitmentrequirements such as length of waste pile, width of waste pile andheight of waste pile; environmental impact information such as run-offareas, wildlife areas, off-limit areas; geographical informationincluding hills, valleys and waterways; and the like.

Similarly, user adjustable waste storage design metrics may includevehicle characteristics for vehicles that will be delivering the waste.In general, the waste storage design is an inverse of the mine design508. Thus, the same characteristics that were utilized in developing themine design are also used to develop the waste storage design, e.g.,bench height, berm width, slope angle, ramp width and the like.

For example, the haul road ramp width 158 may be determined by a defaultof approximately 3.5 times the width of the widest truck to allowpassing between ascending and descending vehicles. In one embodiment,the maximum grade slope may be a 10% default. Although a number ofdefaults values are provided herein, the default values arerepresentative of one embodiment and may be adjusted in differentimplementations. Moreover, although all of the mine designcharacteristics are not repeated in the waste design description, any orall of the design characteristics that are applicable to the mine designmay be similarly utilized during the waste storage design.

Thus, in one embodiment both the open pit mine design and the wastestorage design may be generated and provided to the user at almost thesame time.

Similarly, any modifications to the open pit mine design may beautomatically carried over to the waste storage design. For example, ifan increase in the size of the open pit mine design was contemplated,the user would be able to review the associated larger waste storagedesign. This information may be economically important if the adjustmentto the open pit mine design resulted in a need for a secondary wastestorage location or an adjustment to the waste storage design that wouldrequire additional permissions, or the like.

Computer System

With reference now to FIG. 7, portions of the technology for providing acommunication composed of computer-readable and computer-executableinstructions that reside, for example, in non-transitory computer-usablestorage media of a computer system. That is, FIG. 7 illustrates oneexample of a type of computer that can be used to implement embodimentsof the present technology. FIG. 7 represents a system or components thatmay be used in conjunction with aspects of the present technology. Inone embodiment, some or all of the components of FIG. 1A-F or FIG. 3 maybe combined with some or all of the components of FIG. 7 to practice thepresent technology.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example computer system 700 used in accordancewith embodiments of the present technology. It is appreciated thatsystem 700 of FIG. 7 is an example only and that the present technologycan operate on or within a number of different computer systemsincluding general purpose networked computer systems, embedded computersystems, routers, switches, server devices, user devices, variousintermediate devices/artifacts, stand-alone computer systems, mobilephones, personal data assistants, televisions and the like. As shown inFIG. 7, computer system 700 of FIG. 7 is well adapted to havingperipheral computer readable media 702 such as, for example, a floppydisk, a compact disc, and the like coupled thereto.

System 700 of FIG. 7 includes an address/data bus 704 for communicatinginformation, and a processor 706A coupled to bus 704 for processinginformation and instructions. As depicted in FIG. 7, system 700 is alsowell suited to a multi-processor environment in which a plurality ofprocessors 706A, 706B, and 706C are present. Conversely, system 700 isalso well suited to having a single processor such as, for example,processor 706A. Processors 706A, 706B, and 706C may be any of varioustypes of microprocessors. System 700 also includes data storage featuressuch as a computer usable volatile memory 708, e.g. random access memory(RAM), coupled to bus 704 for storing information and instructions forprocessors 706A, 706B, and 706C.

System 700 also includes computer usable non-volatile memory 710, e.g.read only memory (ROM), coupled to bus 704 for storing staticinformation and instructions for processors 706A, 706B, and 706C. Alsopresent in system 700 is a data storage unit 712 (e.g., a magnetic oroptical disk and disk drive) coupled to bus 704 for storing informationand instructions. System 700 also includes an optional alpha-numericinput device 714 including alphanumeric and function keys coupled to bus704 for communicating information and command selections to processor706A or processors 706A, 706B, and 706C. System 700 also includes anoptional cursor control device 716 coupled to bus 704 for communicatinguser input information and command selections to processor 706A orprocessors 706A, 706B, and 706C. System 700 of the present embodimentalso includes an optional display device 718 coupled to bus 704 fordisplaying information.

Referring still to FIG. 7, optional display device 718 of FIG. 7 may bea liquid crystal device, cathode ray tube, plasma display device orother display device suitable for creating graphic images andalpha-numeric characters recognizable to a user. Optional cursor controldevice 716 allows the computer user to dynamically signal the movementof a visible symbol (cursor) on a display screen of display device 718.Many implementations of cursor control device 716 are known in the artincluding a trackball, mouse, touch pad, joystick or special keys onalpha-numeric input device 714 capable of signaling movement of a givendirection or manner of displacement. Alternatively, it will beappreciated that a cursor can be directed and/or activated via inputfrom alpha-numeric input device 714 using special keys and key sequencecommands.

System 700 is also well suited to having a cursor directed by othermeans such as, for example, voice commands. System 700 also includes anI/O device 720 for coupling system 700 with external entities. Forexample, in one embodiment, I/O device 720 is a modem for enabling wiredor wireless communications between system 700 and an external networksuch as, but not limited to, the Internet. A more detailed discussion ofthe present technology is found below.

Referring still to FIG. 7, various other components are depicted forsystem 700. Specifically, when present, an operating system 722,applications 724, modules 726, and data 728 are shown as typicallyresiding in one or some combination of computer usable volatile memory708, e.g. random access memory (RAM), and data storage unit 712.However, it is appreciated that in some embodiments, operating system722 may be stored in other locations such as on a network or on a flashdrive; and that further, operating system 722 may be accessed from aremote location via, for example, a coupling to the internet. In oneembodiment, the present technology, for example, is stored as anapplication 724 or module 726 in memory locations within RAM 708 andmemory areas within data storage unit 712. The present technology may beapplied to one or more elements of described system 700.

System 700 also includes one or more signal generating and receivingdevice(s) 730 coupled with bus 704 for enabling system 700 to interfacewith other electronic devices and computer systems. Signal generatingand receiving device(s) 730 of the present embodiment may include wiredserial adaptors, modems, and network adaptors, wireless modems, andwireless network adaptors, and other such communication technology. Thesignal generating and receiving device(s) 730 may work in conjunctionwith one or more communication interface(s) 732 for coupling informationto and/or from system 700. Communication interface 732 may include aserial port, parallel port, Universal Serial Bus (USB), Ethernet port,antenna, or other input/output interface. Communication interface 732may physically, electrically, optically, or wirelessly (e.g. via radiofrequency) couple system 700 with another device, such as a cellulartelephone, radio, or computer system.

The computing system 700 is only one example of a suitable computingenvironment and is not intended to suggest any limitation as to thescope of use or functionality of the present technology. Neither shouldthe computing environment 700 be interpreted as having any dependency orrequirement relating to any one or combination of components illustratedin the example computing system 700.

The present technology may be described in the general context ofcomputer-executable instructions, such as program modules, beingexecuted by a computer. Generally, program modules include routines,programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., that performparticular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Thepresent technology may also be practiced in distributed computingenvironments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices thatare linked through a communications network. In a distributed computingenvironment, program modules may be located in both local and remotecomputer-storage media including memory-storage devices.

We claim:
 1. A method for an area-based designing of an open pit mine,said method comprising: receiving, at a computer system, an economicshell for an open pit mine location; receiving, at the computer system,user parametric input denoting an open pit mine shape based on theeconomic shell; and automatically generating, at the computer system, anopen pit mine design based on the parametric input in conjunction withuser adjustable open pit mine design metrics.
 2. The method of claim 1wherein the user adjustable open pit mine design metrics comprise: amine machinery characteristic selected from the group consisting of:truck parameters, truck geometry, a slope restriction, a weightrestriction, a turning radius and a width of a haul road for a givenvehicle.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the user adjustable open pitmine design metrics comprise: a geological metric selected from thegroup consisting of: available land, waste dump locations, ore droplocations and geological information for material around the ore.
 4. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the user adjustable open pit mine designmetrics comprise: an open pit mine characteristic selected from thegroup consisting of: bench height, berm width, slope angle, ramp width,stack height, stack slope, step out width, and switchback haul roadinformation.
 5. The method of claim 1 further comprising: automaticallyregenerating the open pit mine design when the user adjustable open pitmine design metric is modified.
 6. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising: receiving the user parametric input for a deepest layer ofthe open pit mine; and automatically generating the open pit mine designfrom the deepest layer to a surface based on the parametric input. 7.The method of claim 1 further comprising: receiving the user parametricinput for a surface layer of the open pit mine; and automaticallygenerating the open pit mine design from the surface layer to a deepestlayer based on the parametric input.
 8. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising: receiving the user parametric input for a selected depthlayer of the open pit mine; and automatically generating the open pitmine design in both a shallow and a deeper direction from the selecteddepth layer based on the parametric input.
 9. The method of claim 1further comprising: evaluating the open pit mine design against designobjective metrics selected from the group consisting of: a minimizedamount of waste to be removed, a time frame, a maximization of oreobtained and a mine machinery availability.
 10. A parametric open pitmine designer comprising: an economic shell receiver module to receivean economic shell; a user input module to receive a user parametricinput denoting an open pit mine shape based on the economic shell; andan open pit mine designer module which automatically develops an openpit mine design from the user parametric input.
 11. The parametric openpit mine designer of claim 10 further comprising: an environmentalinformation provider to provide environmental information to the openpit mine designer module, the environmental information selected fromthe group consisting of: available land, waste dump locations, ore droplocations and geological information for material around the ore. 12.The parametric open pit mine designer of claim 10 further comprising: auser adjustable open pit mine characteristic definer to provide slopeinformation to the open pit mine designer module, the open pit minecharacteristic selected from the group consisting of: bench height, bermwidth, slope angle, ramp width, stack height, stack slope, step outwidth, and switchback haul road information.
 13. The parametric open pitmine designer of claim 10 further comprising: a user adjustableengineering metric to provide engineering information to the open pitmine designer module, the engineering metric selected from the groupconsisting of: truck parameters, truck geometry and vehicle capabilitycharacteristics.
 14. The parametric open pit mine designer of claim 13wherein the vehicle capability characteristics is selected from thegroup consisting of: a slope restriction, a weight restriction, aturning radius and a width of a haul road for a given vehicle.
 15. Theparametric open pit mine designer of claim 10 further comprising: anopen pit mine design evaluator to automatically evaluate the open pitmine design against design objective metrics selected from the groupconsisting of: a minimized amount of waste to be removed, a time frame,a maximization of ore obtained and a mine machinery availability. 16.The parametric open pit mine designer of claim 10 wherein the open pitmine designer module automatically develops the open pit mine designfrom the group consisting of: down from the user parametric input, upfrom the user parametric input and both down and up from the userparametric input.
 17. A method for parametrically designing a wastepile, said method comprising: receiving a waste material amount based onan open pit mine design; receiving a user parametric input denoting awaste storage shape; and automatically generating a waste storage designbased on the parametric input and the waste material amount.
 18. Themethod of claim 17 further comprising: automatically generating thewaste storage design from the group consisting of: down from the userparametric input, up from the user parametric input and both down and upfrom the user parametric input.
 19. The method of claim 17 furthercomprising: utilizing a mine machinery characteristic when automaticallygenerating the waste storage design, the mine machinery characteristicinformation selected from the group consisting of: truck parameters,truck geometry, a slope restriction, a weight restriction, a turningradius and a width of a haul road for a given vehicle.
 20. The method ofclaim 17 further comprising: utilizing a geological data whenautomatically generating the waste storage design, the geological dataselected from the group consisting of: available land, waste dumplocations, ore drop locations and geological information for materialaround the ore.
 21. The method of claim 17 further comprising: receivinga user adjustable waste storage design characteristic; and automaticallyregenerating the waste storage design when the user adjustable wastestorage design characteristic is modified.
 22. The method of claim 20wherein the waste storage design characteristic is selected from thegroup consisting of: bench height, berm width, slope angle, ramp width,stack height, stack slope, step out width, and switchback haul roadinformation.